dan summer, professor of agricultural economics at the university of california davis, says the new price of milk will be far above what it now costs dairy farmers to produce it. >> it really will be just chaos. nobody really knows how to act. >> reporter: so we would go back to this old farm bill, which would force the government to buy milk at an extremely high price. >> that's right. >> reporter: this could be a windfall for dairy farmers. >> here's the problem for dairy farmers: they don't want chaos in the milk market. it sounds good-- "gee, everybody will double or triple the price"-- but how much milk would people buy at that price? >> reporter: nobody will pay it. >> nobody will pay it. >> reporter: shoppers for milk today couldn't understand why congress can't at least solve this problem. linda vella: >> they all need to be fired. and if we want to continue to eat, the bill needs to be passed. that's where we get our food, people. >> reporter: we called the department of agriculture, and they say they have no backup plan to avoid this scenario. in terms of a price increase, a spo